If you love gossip — and who, if they’re being honest with themselves, doesn’t love a delectable morsel from time to time? — there are few platforms better than Glassdoor.
- If you aren’t job hunting, employees anonymously reviewing companies ranks high on entertainment value.
- If you are searching, it’s useful — but terrifying. (Take it from someone who once got an offer letter from a CEO described on Glassdoor as “a rudderless, spineless talking head.”)
Aside from its scintillating executive roasts, Glassdoor is also packed with insights from the 55m+ professionals who visit monthly, which makes its 2024 Workplace Trends report well worth a look.
What are the biggest takeaways?
- Gen Z is nudging baby boomers out: As boomers age out of the workforce, zoomers are ready to take over third place in the American workforce, behind Gen X and millennials. Gen Z workers won’t top the list until the 2040s (which gives them more time to brush up on basic workplace etiquette), but their ever-increasing presence is bound to transform workplaces. The internet-raised generation is just different.
- Benefits packages may suck more: One of the first pages of companies’ cost-cutting playbook? Slashing pricey benefits. Glassdoor data suggests fewer 401k and dental plans, gym and phone reimbursement programs, and less tuition and commuter assistance. One silver lining: Offerings like fertility and adoption assistance, parental leave, and mental health support remain on the rise.
- Equity-as-compensation is also waning in popularity: Sorry, college kids hoping to retire by 30, but Glassdoor saw equity handouts peaking in 2021, with fewer employees (especially entry-level employees) expected to see company equity in compensation packages next year.
Hug your middle manager today
One more trend worth calling out is a precipitous increase in middle-management misery. (Every middle manager is shaking their head in agreement right now.)
As 2023 marches along, junior and senior employees’ work-life balance ratings have remained stable on Glassdoor, while those of middle managers at large companies have plummeted.
We’d like to tell them it’ll get better in 2024 — but they know better.
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